Poll anywhere with Poll Everywhere July 9, 2009
Posted by Mark Samberg in Uncategorized.add a comment
We’ve all seen the cool “clickers” at conferences (really known as Classroom Responders). I had a set of these in my classroom last year. They were awesome! Kids loved them, and were excited about answering questions on them. But there is always a catch. In this case: $$$$$$$$$$. Normal classroom responders run at least $2,000 a pop, so getting one in every teacher’s hands is not realistic for most schools.
If only there were a way to leverage something students are bringing to class with them anyway as a “poor 1man’s classroom responder. What do all of our students bring to class? Pencils…no. Paper…no. Backpacks…no. Textbooks, definitely no. Hmmm……. CELL PHONES. Every student has a cell phone in their pocket, despite the best efforts of education policy makers. Poll Everywhere (http://www.polleverywhere.com) meets this need perfectly. It allows you to put up a multiple choice (or free response) question, and have students TEXT in their answers. Let’s try it (don’t worry – it’s anonymous). Since WordPress is being annoying and not letting me embed the poll directly, click to go to the poll and vote.
When you text your answer, they are automatically displayed in real time. Of course, Poll Everywhere also lets you vote via Smartphone, web page (for computer users), and Twitter. Obviously, there are a few caveats. You are going to have to monitor your classes twenty times more closely than normal to make sure students are on task. This isn’t for the “crazy class”. Your school or district may have policies in place preventing this. Don’t get in trouble.
Twitter-(not so)-iffic July 8, 2009
Posted by Mark Samberg in Uncategorized.add a comment
I think it’s possible that I’m the only person who doesn’t use Twitter. It’s not that I don’t like the service, but I just think that it’s overhyped. Take a look at this recent post from Senator John McCain:
Vote for Mark Reynolds for All-Star! He is a great athlete and an outstanding role model. Go D-backs, 3 in a row!
Or this one from Katie Couric on the Michael Jackson memorial service:
Talked to stevie wonder afterwards. I love the song he sang. Pretty amazing to sit next to such a legend.
Ok, guys, I DON’T CARE! I think that some of the most useless stuff on the Internet right now can be found on Twitter (which is quite an accomplishment, when you think about it). I think every teacher right now reading this has too much to worry about in their own lives and classrooms to pay attention to a minute-by-minute accounting of the lives of professional narcissists.
Anyway, I’m going to end the rant here, and talk about how Twitter can be useful in the classroom:
- Create a twitter feed with daily homework assignments and reminders. Parents and students can subscribe to it, and see it every day. Also, since Twitter will send you text message notifications of subscribed feeds, a student who subscribes to your homework feed can literally have their homework texted to them every day.
- Cheap classroom responders: Ask a question on your Twitter feed, have students respond to your Twitter feed.
- Summarizing: Since they only have 140 characters to work with, Twitter is a great way to have students summarize reading assignments.
Others? Think Twitter is awesome? Post in the comments.
“You have five minutes to complete this assignment” July 6, 2009
Posted by Mark Samberg in Uncategorized.add a comment
This is the well-intentioned statement we all start with. However, if you are anything like me, one of two things always happens. Scenario 1: Student needs help. A LOT of help. While you are helping this student, five minutes passes, six minutes, seven, etc. Scenario 2: “Mr. Samberg – HOW MUCH TIME DO WE HAVE LEFT NOW?/WHAT TIME DID WE START?/WHAT DOES THAT STUFF PRINTED ON THE BOARD MEAN?”
Enter: E.gg Timer (http://e.ggtimer.com) – an online countdown timer, which displays, in REALLY BIG font how much time is remaining for you, and your class (if you have a projector) to see. When time has elapsed, it even beeps.
What makes e.gg timer a little better is that there are two ways to use it: the easy way, and the easier way. The easy way, go to http://e.ggtimer.com, and in the big box that says “Start a Timer”, enter your time using natural language (5 minutes or 10 minutes and 20 seconds or 1 hour 3 minutes 11 seconds – just don’t use commas). Press “GO” and you are done. The timer appears in the middle, with progress bars at the top and bottom.
Now, the easier way. Just put the time in the URL. For example, type in http://e.ggtimer.com/3minutes for a 3-minute timer, or http://e.ggtimer.com/5minutes20seconds for a 5 minute and 20 second timer, etc. It’s natural language without spaces…
Easy, effective and VERY useful.
Simple Lesson: Animoto Introductions July 4, 2009
Posted by Mark Samberg in Uncategorized.Tags: animoto, english, procedures, reading, writing
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For those of you who have used Animoto before, you’ll agree that it is nothing short of awesome. For everyone else, it’s time to get started. Animoto is a simple way to make photo slideshows. Upload your pictures, add your music, and Animoto does all of the hard work for you. Each presentation is different, and each presentation looks like a music video. And the best part is: it’s free for teachers AND THEIR STUDENTS, and there is no software to install – making a totally unbeatable solution for teachers and control-freak tech directors (I was one, so I can say that). Sign up for an account by going to http://www.animoto.com/education. Animoto has also added the ability to put text in with the pictures, making it even better.
So here is the lesson idea. In August, when your kids get back (or on Monday for you year round folks), share a little about yourself, your rules and expectations using Animoto. Surely, it’s more fun for you than going through it. Then, play a little game or review activity to make sure they got it. Abbey and I made an intro video when we presented last year at NCTies. Here it is:
But, you can do more with it than that. Jamie Lemmond, a Social Studies teacher at East Wake School of Integrated Technology frequently used Animoto to put context to the images his students would see during their studies. Here is a video depicting the end of World War II:
Other uses for Animoto:
- Have students summarize/retell a story you are reading using pictures (remember your Copyright rules).
- Put a series of pictures together, and have students write the story that goes with it.
- Autobiographies
- Have students make a public service announcement about a topic that you are studying
- Have students post pictures (or provide them) and come up with action verbs, alliterative phrases (or really anything else) that goes with them.
I’m sure I’ve just scratched the surface here. Got more? Post in the comments.
Welcome to the show that never ends! July 3, 2009
Posted by Mark Samberg in Administrative Nonsense.1 comment so far
Every teacher has been there. It’s 3:00. We finally get all of our kids out the door. Then, just as you are ready to breathe your sigh of relief, the announcement: “All teachers…blah, blah, blah…mandatory meeting…blah, blah, blah…now. Thank you 
“. You think to yourself “What could they POSSIBLY want now?” So, you collect your things, take the opportunity to grab the three crackers you had intended to eat for lunch, and haul yourself over to the meeting. You aren’t really listening, because you are ready to go home, but from what you can pick up as you fade in and out of a teaching-induced daze, your principal is complaining about test scores, and the lack of technology integration in the schools. “You need to be using technology!” You hear that over and over again. Then, you go home and crash immediately, sleeping all the way through until tomorrow.
You would love to be teaching with technology, but don’t have the time (or the energy) to find the resources, plan the lessons, learn the tools, or anything else. When you try, you seem to just get more and more frustrated.
Well, we’re here to help. There are two of us who maintain this blog. We’re are both teachers, we know this scenario all too well. This blog is designed for two purposes. First, it’s designed for teachers. We will have cool sites to use in the classroom, tips and tricks to make your life a little easier, engaging lesson ideas, and tips for teaching with technology. Second, it’s designed for technology specialists in schools. For them, we will have staff development ideas, network setups to help make schools function more effectively, and yet more tips and tricks.
We will try to update this site daily. Join us!
