Google Glass

Check out this video about one of Google's new, cutting edge products: "Google Glass." This is unbelievable technology. Currently, Google is not taking anymore applications to get a pair of google glasses. However, like all things, eventually they will become available and affordable. How cool would it be to have these? As the video shows, you can simply say "take a picture" and your glasses take a picture, or a video, or translate something into a different language. They are like a GPS, except you don't have to look away at a screen, instead the directions pop up right in front of your eyes. Google anything in seconds to find information, location, answers, etc. Google Glass also allows you to share what you are seeing LIVE. Google Glass will give people the ability to see and share things from a perspective, up until now, was impossible. Since these glasses are worn, your hands are always free to continue doing what you need to do. Google Glass will not come to schools for a long time, however, gradually, google glass will be able to provide students with interesting videos. With Google Glass, students will be able to go on "virtual field trips" as they watch the person with the glasses on walk the Great Wall of China, explore the Pyramids, climb Mt. Everest, or walk the Mayan ruins. Technology is advancing so quickly, it is fun to see what's next. 

 Click Here to learn more about Google Glass

Website on Steroids: Creating a Powerful Blog

Website on Steroids: Creating a Powerful Blog

Last summer, I had the awesome opportunity to write a guest blog post for a website called "Free Technology for Teachers" which is written by Richard Byrne. I thought I would share it here, in case there is something in it you can use this year or start thinking about for next year.

Blogging Ideas

Here is a prezi that goes through some various ideas and activities you could do with a blog. Watch the prezi full screen to allow you to be able to actually read the posts and see what the actual activity is. With the onset of May and the end of the school year, we might as well start thinking about next year :)  

Topic Sort Without a Computer

Ideally, we would all have computers everyday, or everyday that we wanted them. As we all know, this is far from reality. Because of our pathetic computer availability, some of our computer/internet ideas must be changed into a non-computer/internet activity. I've posted before on using Lino and Wall-Wisher to post random facts about topics and then having your students sort them into categories. If you do not have computers available or just don't want want to use them, you can create a "topic sort" without the technology.
Topic Sort is a good way to get your kids thinking about what you've been teaching and a good challenge for them (I always make it into a competition). Think of 4 or 5 categories of information that you've been learning about. Then, you, as the teacher, list a bunch of facts for those topics. Cut them out, mix them up and put them all together in an envelop. Give each group (2 or 3 per group) an envelop and so "Go." The challenge is for them to obviously be the first group with all items organized into their respective topics. You could also have a specific sequence of events for each topic, so not only does each group need to sort the items, but they need to be in the correct order as well. This would raise the "challenging" factor. Have groups check each other's work for accuracy. The more items they need to sort, the better because it makes it harder. 
Ideas/Application for Education: Civil War Battles, Civil War Generals, Presidents, Parts of Speech, books you've been reading, etc. 

Get Pinterest-ed in Education

Pinterest is NOT just for females. Pinterest is a great resource for teachers because it's essentially a huge sharing virtual world of ideas. If you are not familiar with Pinterest, here's how it works: You sign up for an account. Once you have an account, you are given a "virtual board" that you can "pin" things that you find interesting and/or want to use in the future. It's kind of like a "to-do list" only virtually. Pinning things on your board helps you not forget what you want to do in the future. You can also "follow" other people's boards. This feature is what makes Pinterest a good teaching resource. There are tons of education boards on Pinterest. You can search for education-content related boards and see what other people are doing out there. You can find activity ideas, projects, technology tools, etc. You can also "pin" your own ideas and share with other users. I signed up for an account last night and realized two things: it's a great place for teacher resource sharing/ideas and its a huge "time drain." I browsed around for a while and just kept hopping from board to board, searching for good stuff and soon I realized I had spent an hour looking at Pinterest. Sign up for Pinterest and do some browsing. What can it hurt? If it's not for you, than just delete your account. However, I am confident you will find something worthwhile that could help your teaching.  

Source: teachgennow.com.au via Heidi on Pinterest