I'm Back!

I'm back! Sorry for not posting for a few months. Things got a little crazy at work and home.

So this week, I am going to go math specific with a very simple online game that helps kids work on their order of operations and also just some simple computational skills. I use this game with my Algebra I kids in the beginning of the year and they usually have quite a bit of fun with it.

The game is called Eric's Broken Calculator and it is very simple to use. Essentially you are given a calculator that has only a few working buttons and you have to arrive at each number on a list using only the numbers and operations given. You can see an example of the screen in action on the right.

As you can see, the numbers get crossed off as you come up with them. There is also a timer in the bottom right hand corner. There are seven levels in all, each one harder than the previous one and the time given changes with each level.

Just as a heads up...some of the later levels have the old "m+" (add to memory) and "mr" (memory recall) buttons that most current students have never encountered. You may have to show them how these buttons work if they are unfamiliar with them because they are needed to arrive at the solutions!

I love to use this with a smartboard because the students can stand in the front of the classroom and try to get the results in front of the class. I usually have the other students in class try to come up with the list faster than the student at the board, which is hard because they don't get the benefit of the calculator.

I hope you enjoy this one and I have more ideas to come in the coming weeks!

New Blog Coming Soon!

Ok...so things have been a little crazy for the past couple of months. I am going to be posting a new blog soon though with some upcoming adventures I have planned for next school year. I will get the next onenp ASAP!

Let The Countdown Begin!!

Ok...so this is going to be about as basic as it gets for technology. Today I am going to introduce you to the countdown timer from classtools.net. You can find it here.

This is a website that has a countdown timer that can be displayed in fullscreen mode on your projector. You can set the countdown to whatever you want it to be, but there is a catch...the real reason why I like this so much. It has music to go with the timer!

Ok...so it may not be the catchiest music, but I guess that is the allure for me. What music does it play? Well, there is the usual classical music like Fur Elise, William Tell Overture, and others. But then you get the really good songs like the themes for Hawaii 5-O, Pink Panther, The A-Team, Mission Impossible, Indiana Jones, and.......Star Wars! I know that these are nerdy, but that is really the point! My students always make comments about this music. They will always complain when it is on, and then as soon as I don't use it once they complain that the music isn't there.

I often use this timer on a review day. I use the timer to time them on a specific problem or set of problems. Then when the music stops and the timer runs out I use the random name generator that I posted previously to pull a name. That student (or their group) has to answer the question or show the solution on the whiteboard. It is an easy way to make a normal "sit down and do some problems for practice" assignment into something engaging and fun. I have gotten a lot of use out of this and I hope other do as well!

Feel free to post any new ideas in the comment section.

OK...Back to the Blog!!

Alright...it has been a while since I last posted. My wife and I just moved and the process of unpacking when you have too much junk is simply overwhelming!

That being said, I am going to post tonight about an app that was recently introduced to me by a co-worker/tech buddy/fellow ed techie, Angela! The app is called SlideShark. So what does it do? Well, if you are like me, then you use PowerPoint in some form or another in your classroom. I have always liked using PowerPoint in my classroom but when I started making the transition to the iPad, it became kind of a pain to pull this off.

This is where SlideShark comes in. SlideShark gives you the ability to control your PowerPoint slides from your iPad. You simply have to import your presentations into SlideShark (I do this using dropbox). Through dropbox, this process is extremely simple because SlideShark can connect directly to your dropbox to import your slideshows.

When you download the app and connect to it, they will have you sign up for a free account, which gives you 100MB of storage space. This may not seem like a ton of space, but if you connect it to dropbox (which can hold about 16GB for free if you get enough referrals) this is quite a bit of storage for PowerPoint files.

I have recently started using an Apple TV to display my iPad on my projector, which really makes this program invaluable (especially since it is free!). So when the app is running, it displays your presentations the same as if they were running from your laptop. On your iPad, you can see all of your slide notes if you use them. You can see the collection of slides in thumbnail view as well, which is nice to keep track of where you are and what slides are up next. The best part, in my opinion, is the ease of use. It is so user friendly that it is almost unfair. You swipe left to advance a slide, swipe right to go back, and swipe up to see the thumbnail view of your slides.

I looked at some other apps, and still may in the future, to accomplish the goal of PowerPoint from the iPad, but this one was an instant fit for me. Hopefully you can find it useful as well. My next goal is to find the best way to write on the slides from my iPad. I have a couple of things I've tried, but I'm still working on finding the best way to pull this off.


------------------------------EDIT--------------------------------------------

Good news today (3/27/13)!!! I just downloaded the newest version of SlideShark and they really beefed it up! They must have heard my cry for help because they have added the ability to write on the slides during the presentation. This solves my biggest issue with the app. Also, they have a pretty neat "laser pointer" feature so you can move your finger on the screen and it emulates a laser pointer on the projection. Lastly, there is a completely new feature that allows for someone to remotely view your presentation. I haven't investigated this one much, but it seems like it may be a great solution to helping the sick kid at home who misses a lesson! If I get more on this one I'll add another edit here or a completely new post.

Also, I noticed the ability to control your presentation from the iPhone instead of the iPad. This is great for me because I talk with my hands a lot and the iPhone is much more compatible with walking around class.

Thanks SlideShark!

Random Name Fun!

Tonight I'm going to show you a really quick and simple webpage that I have used in my classroom many, many times. It is extremely simplistic, but can be used for a number of things. It is a random name generator with a fun and interactive appearance. It will randomly generate names in a slot machine (or in a typewriter) that you put in.

I keep a text file with my class rosters in it, which allows me to just copy and paste the names of my students into this page. What I usually do, is to use this for review days. I will put an activity up on the smartboard for the students to do, and then if they get it right I switch over to this screen. They can push the "Fruit Machine" button you see on the right and it will generate the next name. You can have the names removed after they have been selected if you would like.

The animation looks just like a slot machine and my students have always had fun watching the names spin around and around. It even has a dramatic stall at the end between two names before finally selecting one. I like this because it makes sure everyone is focused on the activity because they can be called on at any time. It also makes randomly picking names fun for the students.

ClassTools.net has a large variety of tools that I will be covering at a later date. Any suggestions you may have for future blogs are always welcome! Feel free to comment!

Next Up: RedLaser

This week's app is a multi-functioning scanner that can be used on most any smart phone and tablet with a camera. The name? RedLaser. Many people have heard of this tool before, but probably not for use inside of the classroom. I am going to give you just a few ways that you might use this app in the classroom.

First things first, let me describe what RedLaser actually does. This is an app that scans a bar code or a QR code (I'll go into more detail about these later). After it scans the bar codes, it will give you a description of the item. Sometimes these are rather detailed descriptions, sometimes they are quite vague. It just depends on the item being scanned. It will also allow you to search online and nearby stores for a price comparison.

I'm sure you can tell that I'm going to turn this into a math project! Many students already have smartphones that can use this app and it just so happens to be free! In many classrooms, you may actually be able to allow students to use their cell phones for educational purposes! Ok...I may be showing my teacher side a bit now. Anyway, these could easily be used to have students create a budget and then use this app to scan items from their house and compare the cheapest prices found to what was actually paid. It is a great way to teach students how to save money and how quickly saving money can add up!

The other side of RedLaser is the QR scanner. This is one item I love to use. The reason? Well, it is really just a quick way to get to a website. For instance, if you scan the QR code on the right, it will direct you to this blog! There are plenty of websites out there that will allow you to create these for free. I used this one to generate the code on the right. On a later blog, I will show you a site that allows you to create a scavenger hunt out of these codes. I did this with my Algebra I class and had them solving equations while racing all over campus. I have also placed these on the bottom of a worksheet to give the students a link to the solutions to their homework. You could also link students to suggested websites to assist them in any topic.

I'm sure teachers will find many other uses for this app in the future, and if you have any ideas yourself, I would love to hear them. Please comment any ideas you may have for this app yourself. In later blogs, I will refer to this app again, because I have found quite a few ways that these may be used and I'm still trying to implement these in different ways in my own class.

Today's App: Pick Me!

The app I am going to talk about today is very simple to use, but I have found it to be valuable for many reasons! Pick Me! Click the link to take you to the iTunes store for more info.

This is essentially a random name picker that has the ability to track the responses of the students who are called upon. It also allows you to store student information and photos for quick access to data on the student.

When you begin using the Pick Me! app, you will import or create a list of students on your roster for each class. You setup each class by period. You can keep this as basic as inserting their name, or you can input parent and student email addresses, student photo, and a note section for any other notes you may want to add to the student such as accommodations, etc. From here, you begin by starting a session in a class and it is easy going from here.

Once you have begun a session, you have an interface like you see on the right. I have blurred out the names and not included a photo, but you can clearly see how it lays out. It looks very simple, and it is. To me, that is really the beauty of this program. When I am in the middle of conducting a lesson, the last thing that I want to deal with is a highly involved and clunky interface. To run this app, you just click the thumbs up or the thumbs down. Each click assigns a right or wrong answer and spins to the next random student in the class. The nice part is, it not only picks random names for you, but it will track how many questions each student has answered and how many they got correct.

At the end of each session you can choose to keep the data running, or reset the data. The nice part is, you can simply email the results to yourself to keep a running tally of how each student is doing. This is a great way to track participation points in your class.

Also, if you are like me, cold calls aren't the easiest thing to keep track of. This is a quick and easy way to keep track of them. It is also a great way to learn the names of your students at the start of the school year. You can take pictures on day one and then put names and faces together without that awkward admittance that you haven't learned their names on the first day!

This app is very simple to use and only costs a couple of dollars. I use it on my iPad all of the time and have found quite a few times that this makes my classroom much easier to manage.