Last year in 11 Tools we quickly looked at three exciting web 2.0 tools that at first look are most overwhelming. Now that you have spent a year using technology, let’s revisit those tools with a different view point - Slideshare, Prezi and Live Binders. This time we won’t look so much at creating, but looking at what is already available that you can use. The neatest thing about all of the web 2.0 tools and the internet is that educators can share their lessons. Many people (Theresa Trevino for example) love to create multi-media lessons, others – well- let’s just say that it’s stressful. That’s where you look at what is out there and tweak it to make it work for your classroom. We don’t all need to continue to recreate the wheel. We need to know where to look and how to make it work well within in our classrooms for our students.
For this session, pick at least one of the tools above and do a search for topics that you teach and explore what is already created on the web. Each of them offers a free account that you should join if you have not already. Spend some time looking for lessons and support materials that have already been created that you could incorporate in your lessons. It’s kind of addicting…so you may want to spend time in all three. Each offers a different way to present information to students.
For Prezi, you can make a copy and then edit it to fit your needs. For Slideshare, you can download to your computer. For LiveBinder – a great place to find links to support your classroom needs. (For me I did a quick search on each of them and found great things to place as stations for enrichment or remedial work for students.)
One of the problems today is that there is too much out there. We don’t have time to search through it all to find …this is your time to “play” and explore these three great resources that could be utilized in your classroom. Think "outside the box" on how you can utilize the resources you discover.
Assignment for session 9:
- On the blog, write about one of the three tools and how you plan to implement it into your classroom. What devices can you access these tools on?
- Make an account on at least one of the three tools listed above. Then explore and find things that support your classroom needs. On the WIKI site, post the URL of the slide shares, prezis, and livebinders that you find that would be great for your class. Give a short idea of how you will use it in your classroom. (Our Wiki site will be the to go to place in August when we can’t remember what we visited and to get ideas from our colleagues.)
JB Prezi would be great to use to make a timeline for explorers of Texas to show who came, when they came, and how they ended up in Texas. This would be more interactive and fun for my class to do rather then doing a timeline on paper.
ReplyDeleteWhoo hoo! Livebinder has a perfect ukulele unit under Music. This would be a perfect way to use the inquiry process for any GT or advanced music student. It is student generated and student taught. Incorporating youtube videos a student learns how to tune the ukulele, practice 4 basic chords per song, and perform the song. I'm really impressed!!
ReplyDeleteI found a LiveBinder unit on ecosystems and food chains. It contains elements that could be used for flipped learning and for inquiry lessons. It covers all the ecosystems we study, plus a few extras. This is a good resource to enhance the material we have. The binder includes student-friendly reading material, games and a project. Great find.
ReplyDeleteI can see making a Prezi of our back to school night. Right now, we use a flipchart, but could easily (I think) convert it to a Prezi. My kids could make a Prezi to show understanding of essay components, or of steps large number multiplication, or of facts about our famous people. Possibilities are endless... I can see putting Prezi as a choice on a learning menu.
KS. This brings back the happy thoughts I had when I discovered live binders the first time. What a great way to organize all the cool hings you find that will support learning in the classroom! time and quality are two important thoughts I have on these apps and other things that we introduce in the classroom. it takes tons of time to get organized or to make your own and if you use others things....are they always quality? Lots to explore and learn about these.
ReplyDeleteJS I see Livebinder as a sister to Pinterest but in the school setting. I can put aps, you tubes, etc. about "how to do..." Then as students need help, instead of taking the time to drop everything or have Karen drop everything, I can direct them to a kid-friendly tutorial in my Livebinder that would efficiently answer their problems, but not disrupt the entire class of learning.
ReplyDeleteAW - Live Binders is an organizational tool used to collect and store binders of different topics. It is organized by virtual notebooks and each notebook is different. I could implement it in my classroom by having a binder for different math topics. For example, the students could access the Online Math Games Binder and go to the Fraction topic in that binder for online fraction games. This would enable the students to use the ipads at a workstation and the students would have specific binders to go to in order to accomplish a task.
ReplyDeleteddm -
ReplyDeletePrezi - this is a great way to create presentations that are ten times better than the old PowerPoint. This would make timelines much more visible and provide interactive elements. These could be made by teacher or children, depending on the objective.
LiveBinder - well, I'm a Pinterest-aholic, so this is right up my alley. I like the idea of snapping ideas anytime so that they are organized for me in an easy to find binder. This would work well with our Love & Logic work. Parents always want to find information, and we could provide it for them in a one stop shop.
I just made an account on live binder and I think I am going to love this!! Like pinterest, it is easy to get lost looking at all the great resources (some not so great).
ReplyDeleteLT
Live binder is a wealth of information at a click of a button...well organized and easy to use. This for sure will come in handy. I can't wait to explore a little more here now that I have an account. (MR)
ReplyDeleteHB. I just made an account on LiveBinder. This is a great and easy to use website. I like how it is organized and is easy to "move around" from page to page. This is a great website to share at Open House.
ReplyDeleteLive Binder- what a great resource all under one site. Fun when you are searching for something new and different to enhance what you already have. KML
ReplyDeleteThe Live binder is so up my alley. It will give me lots of fun, new, organized ideas that can be kept organized and easy to access!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnnie Pooh posted above
ReplyDeleteHow did my name get attached?
ReplyDeleteI love it all and for the most part, we do a great job of tweaking things for our grade level. One person, should not have to recreate things from scratch!
If you already have a powerpoint that you use, then export as .jpgs and throw it into a Prezi. It is just another way to add some "spark" to your lesson. I like how you can also paste a you tube video in it... That seems to jazz up the presentations too.
LD - I looked at all the sites, but I like Livebinder best. There are lots of units already set up to use. We would have to tweet things just a little, but then the whole unit is set and ready to go. I found a great one for states of matter, including webquests and interactive online work, as well as labs. We could use the flipped classroom idea and let kids watch some videos and do some of the interactive stuff at home, then work on the journaling and defining aspects in class. It is well organized and easy to use. I also liked the prezi site, but not all of the prezi products are good. It's kind of like Promethean planet when we first got the Activboards and didn't have too many good flipcharts ready to use. I think it will get better with time. Prezis are good to use for homework too. They are a fun way to get kids involved with the learning that takes place at school. I didn't find anything I liked on slideshare. It had only just a few usable slideshows, and they are just that, slideshows. We have so much more going on that is more interesting and exciting than that. Lots of it was too hard for my kids.
ReplyDeleteLast year I shared live binder with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade math teachers in order to pass along new staar information. I would like to use it this year to share lessons and games/activities for all subjects. There is so much useful info out there that will motivate students and make it just a bit easier for teachers.
ReplyDeleteTrish, I'm looking forward to seeing the LiveBinders and other resources you have to help me create independent work stations in my math classroom! - KC
DeleteLove LiveBinder! I am constantly adding things to my favorites tool and this really organizes them for me. I love that I can embed it into my blog and share things with students. It could be used in workstations very easily with vocabulary practice, grammar, or even reading comprehension passages. Of course, I am only thinking of Language Arts, but the uses in different content areas are endless. BD
ReplyDeletewww.livebinder.com/play/play_or_edit?id=30535 There are a lot of good things on live binder. This is just one for 5th grade social studies. (BD)
DeleteKC - OMG, who knew there was so much out there to connect to our SS curriculum! This is fantastic stuff. Thanks for finding it!
DeleteI found a binder on LiveBinder on science journals. I am able to pick and choose from there the things that I can use and store it! It is fabulous! This is a great organizational tool that will really help me. CC
ReplyDeleteLive binder on www.livebinder.com/play/play_or_edit?id=39933 (CC)
DeleteKC - I absolutely love that all of this is out there and my awesome teammates found it for us to use. Thanks for sharing!
DeleteI would really like to use Prezi to highlight key figures or major events that need to be covered, but don't have to have too much in-depth study of. I can see our 5th grade team using LiveBinder to share ideas and lessons. Both are great tools. JJ
ReplyDeleteHere is the live binder on poetry. www.livebinder.com/play/play_or_edit?id=81899 JJ
ReplyDeleteKC - Judy, this is so cool and perfect for your love of poetry. Thanks for finding it!
DeleteMRid- LiveBinder is really cool! Now, why in the world did I NEVER think of this? I could be so rich!! I like how everything is right there for you and you can access all of you information in one spot! This would be really cool to show parents at Open House with all of the classroom info, schedules, homework, blog, pictures, etc!
ReplyDeleteI just made an account on livebinder...love it! It'll be a great way to keep organized. MR1
ReplyDeleteLivebinder is awesome!!! It has so many great resources and so easy to navigate- LOVE it!!!!! MH
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Livebinder. I plan to use it as a way to sort subjects. Students can go to the livebinder website with my login information and access information I created and sorted for them. Maybe a few students could even create a binder to show where all of their resources came from while researching something. If I am really on top of things (haha), I can organize a folder for my students who may have been absent for a number of days and link websites we used as well as scan in sometings things for them and then it is all in one place. Since it is on the web, it can be used from many devices. There is also an app for it.I hope I find time to really set this up. It could be great!KE
ReplyDeleteI love livebinder! You can look and save stuff. I am addicted to pinterest, so I think I will love the ability to browse and save stuff to my binders. I created an account, and have started collecting things in my first binder. So fun!
ReplyDeleteCLM-LiveBinder was my tool of choice! It's a great way to organize your files, worksheets, videos, games and websites! Also a great place to do a file on a certain topic that students could access and use in their study, workstation, small group, etc. As students are doing research they could store their resources in LiveBinder that they could share with others, or as they plan their presentation or project.
ReplyDeleteComputers or ipads would be the best devices to access LiveBinder in the classroom.
LK-I've been thinking and worrying a lot lately about our transition from STAT to RTI. Could Live Binder be used to catalog learning difficulties and strategies to try in the classroom for each?
ReplyDeleteRR-Prezi is a great alternative for kids who a bored with power point presentations. Livebinder seems like a great way to get organized an share information or compile great lessons created by entire grade levels for a great resource.
ReplyDeleteKC - WOW, the wealth of information and ideas that are out there for us is amazing, and I love that we can find the LiveBinders and share them (see my comments above). They are great for organizing, but I'm a little annoyed by the advertising popups. I'm going to have fun with these!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of LiveBinders. One that I really liked was on poetry: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=7319. This author uses Prezis to explain types of poetry and directions. Neat idea! She also uses a technique called TPCASTT (a method for analyzing poetry and other written work by Josh Flores 07 March 2010), which I will be able to implement easily next year. I love Prezi, too! It seems a little intimidating at first (since you start with a blank slate), but I think the kids will love the challenge. My goal is to create one with the kids (as a model), and then I will let them have at it. I will probably use our Texas heroes unit to start. Thanks for all the wonderful resources, Karen!
ReplyDeleteI liked livebinders also. Easy to understand and easy to move from one subject to another as needed for your lessons. It even has a section on mapping out your running or walking routes. Lost of possibilities here. DM
ReplyDeleteJL - Ok Trish, sounds as if you are going to be my "go to" Livebinder person. Categorizing art work according to genre, color, techniques, etc will be a good use of this tool.
ReplyDeleteNH - KH really helped me understand the value of LiveBinder - steal from others. Which goes right along with my philosophy of 'don't reinvent the wheel'. I found so many good ideas in looking in other binders. It is like Pinterest in that way.
ReplyDeleteI used Prezi to introduce myself to my new students last year and this year by sending the prezi link in an email to the parents before meet the teacher. Also Theresa did some awesome prezis for our Holidays around the world unit we do before the winter holidays.
ReplyDeleteLive binders isn't something I have personally used to store my docs/info but have used it to find information. It is a great way to store the enormous amount of information that is out there. Livebinders is something I want to learn more about to store my stuff and be able to share resources easily with others.