POST #3: Share a resource

I am having a difficult time logging in as I do not have the school's id code at home this summer,  No one is in the office at this time.  I would like to use Learn 360.  From memory I would go to Educator and search Air and Weather.  I would like to use the K-2 resources and search thunderstorms.  I would like a video or images of how thunderstorms form.  This is an activity that can also include language arts and sequencing.  One of my main goals for science is vocabulary and these images may easily be labeled.  If permission is granted to print images, I would like to do that.

As I access this I would go through the same steps my students would to view the same information on their own time or during center time.  I would go to www.griswoldschools.org, click on Elementary, the click on AEA online
From there I would:  Click CultureGrams, put in user name and password
Click Kids Edition
Click North America, United States
Click Holiday under lifestyle.  
Repeat for other countries.  
I will use this information with my class when we are learning about holidays are the world.  This resource gives a quick look at the holidays that each culture celebrates.  This will be new for me this year as I have just briefly touched on it in the past.  With Culture Gram I will be able to give them a visual as to location of culture as well as a brief description of the holidays before we choose our holiday to research.  We will also be able to access the kid interviews to hear how they celebrate their holidays.  

I contacted our school librarian and the passcode I have now is still not working on Learn 360.  I signed up for a free trial and cannot get to the site with those as well.  Frustrated.

Since I'm not a Teacher I will need to follow the teacher's lead and help the students that way. I believe from past years assignments for students that CultureGrams, iClipArtforschools, and TeachingBooks.net would be the most useful in our special ed. classroom.  The Students have several projects from posters  power points,  a several page/ or paragraph essay  (depending on abilities), and some give speeches.  CultureGrams is a site that is very easy to navigate with up to date credible information. While on this site the students , some with short attention spans, can easily find the information on their country or state they are researching.  When a student needs pictures for a project, by going to iClipArt the pictures that are displayed are ones they can use.  They are well organized for them, and again easy to search and advance search. TeachingBooks is also well organized and has may ways the Teacher can use the site to help students find their information in a timely manner.  

For this assignment I chose Atomic Learning. Since we use the Adobe editing suite, I picked http://www.atomiclearning.com/k12/premiere-pro-creative-cloud-2014-training  This contains a list of video tutorials for using both Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. The target audience for this will be high school students in a video production class. I would use the introductory video as the hook in introducing the software to students. Then they can watch these videos at their own pace. After watching the videos students will practice the techniques that were introduced and then share how they could incorporate it into a video project to add interest or further enhance their story.
Atomic Learning also has a Video Storytelling guide  that I would ask students to refer to as a good resource. After reading about shot types and angles the students will be tasked with capturing video clips that demonstrate their understanding. They can continue working their way through the basics of shooting video using the guide while practicing the techniques with a partner or as part of a group or individually depending on their preference. This would be a good resource to refer back to when doing peer reviews with the students because we can pick one thing (lighting for example) to refer to when giving feedback to their peers.

I think my go to site will be the Britannica Online resource. I like that there is a Britannica school for educators, templates for lessons plans and that the resources are aligned to the Iowa Core. Britannica online is available everywhere. There are searches that are appropriate for elementary, middle school, and high school students.  There are also Lexile levels available to differentiate instruction, and additional reading resources and multimedia supports available. Research continues to have a major emphasis in our classroom today.  Often students with learning disabilities struggle using sources independently due to their disadvantage at the reading level.  Britannica online will help make this possible for all learners at all levels and provide them access to support their own learning.

I will need to create an account. Get our school password and let the searching begin. This site definitely has a wow factor.

The resources that I would use the most in my classroom would be that of iClipArt and Book Flix. I would access these through the educator portal on the AEA Online website. The way that I would use iClipArt is that I would like to use the images to incorporate around the classroom to aide in the learning process. Other ways that I would use this program would be through use of images for newsletters and handouts. I have tried to enhance cooking in the classroom in the past years and the use of iClipArt would be a wonderful to help with recipe building. For preschoolers I write out the recipe but like to use pictures to help them actually be able to follow the recipe independently. If doing a recipe on apple smiles I could look up pictures for apples, peanut butter and marshmallows, etc. I would gain access to Book Flix in the same manner through the AEA site. I would love to use this as a resource during reading instruction. I would have the class listen to various stories based on our theme and then we could do things with these same books in the classroom to enhance learning. If doing a farm unit we could listen to the story Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type. One of the features that I love most is that you can look at stories with similar story lines and that it links to another nonfiction book. These would be wonderful resources to use to enhance the curriculum on various themes. I could also use Book Flix during a center time in which I would have students gain access to the same story we covered. They could listen to the story again independently at the computer center and also explore books of their choice on this theme as well as play some of the games that go with it. This program would help those children learn many prereading skills through all that they offer, as well as, aide those children who are ready to begin early reading.  I am excited about all the ways that you could use these programs in your own curriculum.

I am always on the look out for more up to date and relative videos for my driver education course.  In the past most of the videos AEA videos I have used have come from Learn360.  I decided to search the AEA Digital Library to see what was there.  After going to Iowa AEA Online I clicked on the AEA Digital Library tab, entered my username/password and was taken to the main search page.  Then, under “Browse by Subject” I clicked on the Driver Education link.  I scrolled through the possible videos and found one titled, “Driving Stupid”.  In this video it addressed the issues of OWI, Distracted Driving, Drowsy Driving, and Speeding.  It uses real stories to open the discussion about each of these topics.  One nice thing is that it is broken up into smaller clips to that it is not just a video that you have to show all at once.  I have noticed that there are other videos that are broken up this way as well.  Here is what I am going to do. I am going to see what other shorter video clips there are and teach a day on distracted driving, then a day on the dangers of speeding, and so on.  Instead of trying to cover them all on one day at one time, break them up so that the discussion can take place.

BookFlix: I will model using BookFlix with my class to introduce to them that it is an on-line resource for us to read books and do activities! I will show my students how to log on with the username and password onto the AEA website, I will click on educators and then BookFlix. The target audience is PreK-3.  I will have the students read a book such as Click Clack Moo. The words will be highlighted for them, this is great for those struggling readers who need support with tracking and they can choose for it to be read aloud if they wish. After they have read the book they will also look for a vocabulary activity to do and any other games that are available to do as well. This is a book I read every year with my students. Using BookFlix incorporates using technology into the classroom for my students to read the story and to practice the vocabulary from the text.

Because I am a new teacher in our district, I do not have a login yet, so I contacted  our superintendent who provided me with a district code so that I could gain access.  As a musician, I am drawn to Soundzabound, so I clicked on that on the left side of the screen and logged in.  I then clicked on category and found myself just glancing through the list provided, astounded at the number of possibilities!  One of the things that I like to use in my classroom is quality recordings of each of the instruments.  I choose one each week and on Wednesdays we listen to open class.  As I typed in "flute" as my search word, I did find that there were a few options of Soundzabound Flute, so I clicked on each of them.  To be honest, I am quite disappointed because it is a computerized sound that doesn't even remotely begin to sound like a flute.  I then went back to the category page and clicked on solo instruments, hoping that this would bring me better options.  The first thing I clicked on was the recording http://www.soundzabound.com/sabcs?artist=6224 by Michael Charles Clark.  It is a beautiful piano recording and there are several others available.  This brought hope back that I had just initially looked at the wrong thing.  I think typed in the clarifying keyword "clarinet" into the solo instruments category and it brought up several options, each of which is again a computerized recording, sounding nothing at all like the instruments I was hoping to hear.  I have to say I am a bit disappointed and will need to spend even more time with Soundzabound to try and find something I will be able to use within my classroom.  I think it sounds like a fantastic resource, but have not been successful at finding the recordings I am looking for.

I ended up looking at Learn360 and did a search for music history. That was too much, so I narrowed it down to J.S. Bach. There I found an excellent video series of an actor/musician dressed as Bach and speaking about his life in first person. This allowed him to not only talk in a conversational manner, but also express emotion as he explained his life, frustrations and hardships. The costume and set were authentic, as was the harpsichord that he played when demonstrating his music. There were many facts given (dates, compositions, places, musical terms) but the power was in learning about the conditions under which he worked. A musicians’ station in that time was that of a servant. It was not at all an easy task for Bach to create as much as he did. This video series would be wonderful for our music history class. Not only will they learn about Bach the person, and life in the 1700’s, but also about his music. There were several examples played, both live and recorded. If I were to simply lecture on the same points, it would seem so very dry and boring. While continuing to search on Learn360, I find additional videos of the same kind on various other famous musicians. It will be exciting to see what other resources Learn360 has and to begin utilizing them.
http://www.learn360.com/ShowVideo.aspx?lid=13864076&SearchText=bach&ID=146684

One of the resources I am going to try with my high school students is AP images.  I do not currently have an account with the AEA and wont until I start back to work in the fall.  However, I visited the Iowa AEA Online website and can see the tab on the left labeled AP images.  That is where I would access the resource.  I learned from this class that AP images contains tons of pictures from the news.  Categories include: featured news, US domestic news, international news, financial news, and sports.  One reason my students will be coming into my classroom will be to assess their IEP goals.  Some of them have writing goals.  I would like to have them choose a picture from a news story and have them write about it.  There are many directions they could go.  They could be factual about it, or spin a different angle off of it.  I would encourage them to be creative while still focusing on grammar and mechanics.  I feel that my students would be more interested in writing about real-life things that adults are likewise interested in, than the same writing exercises they are used to that sometimes have no meaning.  They will also have the bonus of being more up to date with current events.

The resource I've chosen is Britanica online which is (http://school.eb.com).  I'm super excited about introducing this tool to my K-5 students.  I love the bright colors and vivid pictures for the background.  

Kindergarten-Second graders and those students who need a bit more assistance will like the hover and hear aspect of navigating the Britannica Learning Zone.  Would be of great help though to have each word highlighted as it is read in the "Read" category.  

Third graders will probably focus on choosing an animal for their computer lab project.  Fourth thru fifth graders will explore a science topic under "articles" for their project.  I usually have a nonfiction graphic organizer that the students use to write down needed information which they will then use to make a powerpoint presentation.  The objective in using the Britannica online is to increase digital skills/21st century skills, to explore various animals and to get the students excited about science.  I love the hands on approach to teaching and AEA online resources does a great job in fulfilling that aspect!

I selected the SIRS Issue Researcher as my resource, URL http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-portal-res?id=SKEY136-0-8299  I can see where in various times in my social studies classes where a resource such as this database will be a valuable tool for students to see relevant information and both sides of an issue.

Off the top of my head I can see it particularly being used by myself when we address the role of the atomic bomb at the end of WW II and I have in the past had students take a stand or point vs counterpoint for and against its development, its use, and the nuclear arms race that it caused, as well as the aftermath it created.

With the recent events concerning Iran and development, inspections etc...students will be able to explore and make connections that pertain not only to class and the topic materials, but how it in fact affects them today and tomorrow.

I intend to use one of the tutorial videos, SIRS Issues Researcher in 2 minutes, to introduce a simple lesson of them choosing any topic that they feel strongly about, something that is happening in current events, and then using this resource they must take the opposite stand and find information to support it.  I will have the students record what they are doing and the belief they have and then share that they are to take the opposite side.  By doing this, perhaps they will see how to see the opposite side of what they think they know to better understand why the issue is debated in general.

http://www.soundzabound.com

The Iowa Common Core, SL 11-12.5 lays out the expectations that students will be able to use digital media in presentations to make their ideas clearer as well as to add interest.

My upperclassmen course, Perspectives, which is, essentially, a modern humanities course, would be who I would aim this at – although, I may also play with it a bit in my Theater Arts and Performance class – with the idea that they explore the use of sound and music. So much of what do is examine the methods used to establish a particular emotion in a scene or commercial. I would love to have students, initially, in a very light, playful manner, choose a specific text – a poem or a paragraph from an essay, article, or short story – and then explore how to use music or sound effects to underscore a reading from the text.

This is double-duty, essentially, with getting students to also grow in their confidence of reading or verbally presenting to a group of people. The music or sound effects, I’m hoping, will provide a lightness to the proceedings, as well as getting them to consider both how to use sound and to make them more aware of how sound is used. That’s the idea, anyway.

I went to AEA Online and chose Britannica  (http://school.eb.com/).  I chose Elementary and searched for Rocks.  We have a types of rocks project for our 4th grade Science unit. I will use this site for a supplement for their research on igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock types.  I started saving articles specific to my inquiry.  I still need to figure out how to organize them better, but using this site will allow me to direct students to information at their reading levels.
I am also going to use Teaching Books( http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=7535) with the book, World According to Humphrey, that I am going to read aloud to my students this fall. I wish to have my students listen to the author's interview and the activities that I can find to go along with it.  I usually do a time intensive web search to find activities, information, or make my own work activities, for my students, this "one stop " shopping is going to save me loads of time and work.

The resource I have chosen is called CultureGrams.  I would use the comparison tables  at http://online.culturegrams.com/world/comparison.php?bc=w to compare different statistics in different parts of the world.  I would use this resource in a lower level statistics class and a college level statistics class at our high school.  Students are primarily juniors and seniors and are required to take one of these two classes.  My objective would be to help students understand how statistics can give us insight into what life is like in other areas of the world. Another goal would be to show students that statistics can be very interesting and that we can learn a lot by looking at statistics. I would model this by comparing literacy rates, male literacy rates, and female literacy rates between the United States and Afghanistan.  We would discuss the differences in the literacy rates between the two countries, especially among women.  We would answer questions like:  "How might you life be different if you were born in Afghanistan?" or "How might literacy rates be connected to the wars going on in that part of the world?"  I would then give them a topic and two countries to explore.  For example, I might ask them to explore the economic conditions in the United States and Greece.  Students would be expected to share something they learned or an insight with a small group.  Each group would then share out to the entire class.  Finally, I would allow students some freedom and choice to explore a topic of their own (ie. sports, social media, ...).  Students would complete an exit ticket explaining their topic and what they learned from the statistics.

teachingbooks.net     (for use with lower elementary students)

Sign in to your IOWA AEA ONLINE account.  There may be an easier way to do this, but this is what I did:  Choose teachingbooks.net from the left side and type your username and password.  
Select POPULAR,
pull down to READINGS OF COMPLETE BOOKS.

From this list, (I found 751 choices!) you can create your own list of book titles for your students!    

When creating a custom book list, you much log in again with your own email address (school email address).  I wish I had known this before!!!!!!!  

I plan to use this resource in place of my existing listening center to alleviate the need for cassette tapes, cassette players, headphones, audio jacks, volume control issues, etc.  

With Kindergarten students I plan to limit the number of choices in the book list provided so all the titles of book coordinate with the actual box of books in front of them!  For example, I sorted by AUTHOR, and will start with the four Frank Asch books (I Met a Penguin, Popcorn, Sand Cake, and Turtle Tale) in a book box on the table in front of the students using IPADS.

I will load the Frank Asch book list (with those four titles) on the IPAD mini and have it book marked for students to easily access.   I can hardly wait to get into my classroom to try this!   I have noticed through the training website that there are phone numbers to call for support.   After spending twenty hours on this website, i would not hesitate to CALL (or email) for help!  I actually had trouble signing in to Britannica and took advantage of this support line & had answers, SOLVED THE PROBLEM, within a few minutes of sending the email.  I THANKED THEM FOR THE QUICK RESPONSE!!!!!!  (probably only 6 minutes total)

If there is an easier way for me to share this list with Kindergarten students, please advise.  I would appreciate the assistance!  I know our tech person (who is no longer with the district) showed us how to put a short cut to any link on the home screen so it was one simple "click" for students.  I am hopeful that this will work, even with the usernames and passwords.  

I chose the iCLIPART database.  URL is http://schools.iclipart.com/index.php?desktop=.  Clicked on the photos tab, then chose animals.  I chose the orangutan photo in first row clear on the right side by clicking on it.  This brought me to the steps page where I was able to download it by clicking on continue and I chose the resolution I desired, saved it to my desktop by right clicking the image and saving it to the folder of my choosing.
I will use this image as an example of the type of image my students will need to find in a unit I teach with scratch art.  This image consists of value contrast (very dark to very light values) which is one of the elements we discuss when choosing a good image to create their project with black scratch art paper.

A resource that I think I will use quite often in my classroom is the Digital Library.  This can be found at http://www.aeadigitallibrary.org/ .  This includes a variety of material, presented in different ways.  This library includes videos, documents, and images.  It provides material for PreK-12.  It includes information in literature, science, health, and many other areas.  I will use this in my class to provide resources for my students that they do not have access to.  (I teach in a Correctional Facility and the students do not have access to the internet.)