Educational Bloggers challenge

Web Address: http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/2013/10/15/week-1/

The above link shows a great idea for using classroom blogs with students or starting a personal education blog.  So take a look at the rules and try out your own blog.  Need a place to try out this blogging stuff.  Here's a few

1. my.uen - There's a great blogging tool as part of your my.uen.  You can also get help on the blogging tool.
2. edublogs - A Word Press powered blogging platform for educators.
3. edutecher - A platform for blogging and a variety of other educational sharing tools.
4. edmodo - More like facebook for teachers than a blog, it allows you to post items and allow students to comment on them.  Still a great potential resource for interacting safely with students.

Math Practice

With almost any gadget you happen to pick up equipped with a calculator math facts may seem less of a priority, but for calculators to be meaningful it is necessary to have some sense of whether the answers that show up on the calculator make sense.  So instead of just one site with resources here's a list of a few sites that can help practice math facts.

• http://www.math-drills.com/ This site has limited numbers of worksheets in each area , but there are a wide array different topics all aligned  to grade levels.
• http://www.mathfactcafe.com/home/ This site is a great resource because it can randomly generate a variety of worksheets and their answer sheets.
• http://www.mathworksheetsland.com/ Another site that has a good array of content in both grade levels and topics
• http://xtramath.org/ is the last one and is not a worksheet generator but a way of allow students to practice math facts at home while parents and teachers get feedback.

So learn some math.

en.linoit.com

Web Address: http://en.linoit.com 

There are a variety of tools available to take notes online and to keep track of favorite websites.  en.linoit is one more.  It allows you to create online sticky notes.  There are apps for smartphones and all of this helps you keep track of the things you most want.

Utah Governor's Summit

Web Address: http://www.uen.org/govedsummit/

In just under a month Governor Gary R. Herbert will be hosting and educational summit.  This summit will address issues of education and instruction here in Utah.  This will be a unique opportunity because there will be a chance to gather together at local schools to view the event live as well as to have conversations with your local colleagues.  UEN will be streaming the event live as will Utah.org so that people from all over will be able to participate and see what Utah is doing to accelerate learning.

Center for Science and Mathematics Education

Web Address: http://csme.utah.edu

The University of Utah is the home of the Center for Science and Mathematic Education.  A group dedicated to improving Science and Math education by enhancing teacher preparation.  The CSME has programs both for Undergraduates and for those pursuing a Graduate work.  There are also a wide variety of  resources and materials for enhancing education.  Take a look around the site and see what you  think.

Science Friday via @iraflatow and @scifri

Web Address: http:://www.sciencefriday.com

The theme this week seems to be science.  There are a variety of science websites available.  Lots of good ones. But one of the exceptional ones has to be Science Friday.  The site is a complement to the NPR Radio program of the same name which airs Friday's ( I know, a shocker right!) my favorite feature is the exceptional Video Pick of the Week


Enjoy a visit around the site.

International Children's Digital Library

Web Address: http://en.childrenslibrary.org/about/mission.shtml

In an effort to enhance reading for children all over the world the International Children's Digital Library. This site has a a collection of children's books in multiple languages.  They have made specific efforts to acquire books not just written in these languages but by native speakers and addressing native cultures.  They based this effort on the idea that it is essential for people to have access to their native language and native culture.  This creates a wonderful resource for educators who are working with immigrant populations or English Language Learners.  Additionally Dual Immersion Language programs can really benefit from this resource as a place for students to find books and teachers to find materials to share.  Most of the materials are available in PDF and can be printed or shared via an interactive whiteboard or projector systems.

Math Fact Cafe

Web Address: http://www.mathfactcafe.com/worksheet/buildit

With all the critical thinking, problem solving and project based learning around there is still a need for drill and practice.  Sometimes that means paper worksheets.  There are quite a few of these out there and here is one that I found recently that Worked very well to create a basic math facts worksheet.  You simply enter in your range and information and the print the sheet. You can also generate an answer key.  Quite a simple and fun website.

UEN.org

This week it's all about the overhaul on the UEN website.  As a disclaimer I do work for UEN which is a non-profit state agency.  That having been said, I would promote this resource regardless if I worked for them or not.  UEN provides and curates some of the best resources for education in the world not to say anything of the state. UEN has worked hard to be a recognizable presence in Utah.  The site has long had a recognizable Purple and Green color scheme. One that has been maintained in the new site.  But with a fresher and newer feel.  Additionally there are new features like auto resizing as you shrink the window and enhanced mobile features at m.uen.org

But since the change has moved around a few favorite pages. Here is a list of some of the hottest UEN pages, maybe there are some here you haven't seen:

1. The UEN Resources Page, a list of resources built by and for UEN: http://www.uen.org/k12educator/uenresources.php 
2. The UEN Multimedia Resource page: http://www.uen.org/general_learner/multimedia_resources.shtml 
3. The UEN Curriculum Search page: http://www.uen.org/curriculumsearch/searchParams.action
4. The UEN Student Interactives, a curated list of great interactive websites, see a problem, see a site that should be there Contact Us and we will get right on it: http://www.uen.org/k12student/interactives.shtml 
5. The UEN Homework Help page: http://www.uen.org/k12student/homework.shtml

These are just a few of the great pages provided as part of the UEN.org site.  Visit the site and plan on spending some time getting reacquainted after the remodel.

Learning Activities for the Summer

As we start into summer it's important to take advantage of both the wonderful learning activities and events:
You can find some amazing links to Summer Reading resources at: http://www.uen.org/general_learner/summer_reading/
You can also find your local utah library here: http://library.utah.gov/directory/index.html

You can find a list of the wonderful museums to visit at: https://www.utahmuseums.org/museum-directory

State Parks are listed at: http://stateparks.utah.gov/parks Utah State parks has partner with http://www.pocketrangerexchange.com/  to share an official StateParks App that let's you join in GeoChallenges.

And even more can be found at Utah.Com (Utah.com is not a government website but does house excellent information about Utah recreational activities)

So Fun stuff to do across the state.  If you have a favorite site or app you will be using to keep up the learning over the summer share it in the comments.

Wiki Classroom

A while back I did a Faculty Lounge Episode about Wikispaces and how it could be used in the classroom. But now Wikispaces has branched out.  They have developed some unique and specific features for Classroom use and one of the options in your settings on your Wiki is to make it a classroom.

This enables several new features:

• Projects
• News Feed
• Events
• Assessments

These features functionally turn a wiki for collaboration into a Learning Management System for course delivery.  Allowing any teacher to deliver content, make assignments, create calendar events and provide feedback with assessment.  Just another great tool in the teacher toolkit.

PearlTrees

Web Address: http://www.pearltrees.com/

Social bookmarking has been around for quite a while, and it can be a wonderful resources, but it isn't always very pretty. That's why Visual Bookmarking has become the latest and greatest. Sites like Pinterest allow users to use the images of their favorite things to keep track of and share those things with their friends. The latest site that I have found allows you to go a couple of steps beyond regular visual bookmarking and social bookmarking.

PearlTrees allows you to create Trees around a topic with various Pearls as the leaves.  The Pearls can be web pages, images, or notes.  These can then be connected further. This gives us the Visual bookmarking but what takes it beyond the other visual bookmarking tools is the ability to group and organize the Pearls.  Essentially you get a tree which organizes your thoughts. It's a Mind Map.  Socially, you can share, tweet, and embed these PearlTrees but where PearlTrees went beyond in Visual bookmarking it also goes beyond in Social Bookmarking. You can view the PearlTrees of others and then add items back to yours by "picking" a pearl.

Homework Help and Summer Support

Web Addresses:

• 
  

  Homework Help: http://www.uen.org/k12student/homework.shtml

• 
  

  Summer Reading Resources: http://www.uen.org/general_learner/summer_reading/ 

With summer approaching it's either time to ramp up the homework factory so that students get all caught up and prepared for next year or it's time to start planning summer excursions and activities to keep kids learning.  Summer can be a really good time to allow kids to recharge and explore interests they have developed during the school year.  I never saw summer vacation as a break from learning but more as a chance to learn at my own pace and to explore my own interests.  The two sites listed above can help students get the support they may need to do just that.

HippoCampus

Web Address: http://www.hippocampus.org

With the proliferation and growth of OER there are more and more resources available for teachers to forge into their own weapon of mass education.  Hippocampus has been an access point for these kinds of openly available resources for years.  UEN has been directing learners and educators to HippoCampus for a long time and has partnered with HippoCampus to offer specific resources in a variety of ways.

HippoCampus will allow users to create their own profile.  They can then browse through, search and locate materials to add them to playlists.  For educators these playlists can be shared with students as either preliminary or review material. This would help you effectively flip your classroom.  Students could preview materials and information before class and then be ready for problem solving, discussion and critical thinking in class.

Students can create their own playlists and explore their own interests.  Essentially taking control of their own learning.  For a list of additional OER Resources check out this list: http://www.uen.org/oer/

GIS/GPS Resources from UEN

Web Address: http://www.uen.org/general_learner/gis.shtml

This week I wanted highlight one of our Utah's own resources.  UEN has been the premier curator of resources directly relevant to Utah Education for years and they continue to strive to be just as relevant.  For the last few years one way they have been doing that is by supporting CMAP courses.  These courses have allowed teachers to locate and map points of interest and of educational value in a variety of locations throughout the state.  Two areas that have particularly robust GIS systems are:

• St. George
• Cache County

Each of the areas have developed a robust mapping system and used information from community mapping to add information.  The GIS/GPS page above is the place that you can go to find out all kinds of great things.  From how to use a GPS device to ways to contribute to other projects.  If you are interested in seeing just what these projects have accomplished take a look at the CMAP Projects page.

Wednesday Web: Edutecher and Educlipper

Web addresses:

• http://www.edutecher.net/index.php 
  
• http://www.educlipper.net

I have found it a little hard to describe these two sites.  Edutecher is a bit like social networking for teachers, but it isn't exactly.  It's a teacher web publishing tool, but it's more than that.  What I can definitively say is that it is definitely useful!  This site allows you to login and create a profile.  This profile allows you to interact with other educators and for them to interact with you. Additionally, you can create your own blog and start sharing out with students. Grab the RSS feed and you can republish it to other sites. Like your my.uen page.  You can also take notes, keep track of links and Search links that are curated on the site.





Is like Pinterest but completely for educators.  You can Clip pages, images, books, even documents and files! Educlipper is a way teachers can store online and share with everyone the things that matter to them.  You can create multiple ClipBoards and then share them with Contacts, students, the whole world or whatever works best for you.  Educlipper is very new and currently requires an invite to become part of but when all the features are available to the whole world it will definitely be a player in the educational world.

Cite your Sources: CiteLigher

Web Address: http://www.citelighter.com

CiteLighter is competing with dozens of other tools out there for taking notes on the web.  But with it's unique academic perspective it might find a useful niche to fill.  With tools for highlighting, saving and ordering information CiteLighter may be a tool worth reckoning with.

Infuse Learning

Web Address: http://www.infuselearning.com/register/index.lasso/

I have been using Socrative.com as a learner response system in my classes and presentations for a while now and I really love it. But recently, at UCET, Leslie Fisher introduced me to Infuse Learning.  It does several things that Socrative doesn't and still does all the things that Socrative does.  I still like the simplicity of the Socrative URL but if I was regularly using this with students the power and features of Infuse learning would quickly overwhelm what other interactive clicker tools can do.

Dipity

Web Address: http://www.dipity.com

Dipity is a Web 2.0 tool designed to build timelines.  The tool is just what  you would expect it to be.  A long scrolling (left to right) list showing events.  Images and additional information can be added including maps, comments and a description of the image. Anyone can create a dipity timeline about anything so some  caution may be needed with the site. But as a way to create Web 2.0 timlines it is excellent.

Steve Job's Life and Career on Dipity.

Web of the Week: StoryBird

Web Address: http://www.storybird.com

Do you like when students express themselves? Interested in getting them writing? and involved in art? What about technology?  StoryBird curates artwork and allows students to sign up and create their own stories to follow the artwork.  There is a good library of stories already available as samples and examples for your students.  You can also share them on Facebook, Twitter or embed them in a website. Teachers can create a class account and work with students to create wonderful stories.