South Dakota's FIRST Edcamp. Check it out. Details below.

On September 20th, South Dakota will have it's very first EdCamp. This is a very unique professional develop opportunity for educators. What makes this PD unique is the design of what an "edcamp" is. It's called an "unconference" because YOU can choose what you go to and what you learn about. It is a PD day that does not have sessions set in stone, but rather are created and provided throughout the day, in a somewhat impromptu style, based on the feeling of the attendees. For example, if you are listening to a classroom management session, and you decide you have had enough, then just get up and walk out and go to another one. It is a day that is designed for teachers, by teachers. Nobody telling us what to do or what to learn. We, as teachers, get to set the agenda and talk about what WE want to talk about. We can share what WE want to share. I will be attending this Edcamp and I invite you all to join me. I've never been to one, but I'm looking forward to this unique Opportunity. 

South Dakota EdCamp
When: September 20th, 2014
Where: Harrisburg North Middle School
2201 W. 95th Street | Sioux Falls, SD 57108 
Time: 8:00 am to 3:30 pm

Breakfast: doughnuts, juice and coffee--FREE
Lunch: Qdoba catered--FREE

Register Here--It's FREE

Podcasting with Podcastmachine.com

What is podcasting? A podcast is simply an audio recording. A podcast is something you make that your students listen to. It can also be something your students make and you listen to or the class listens to. It is a different way to use, learn, and review information. In education, podcasts can be a very effective tool. Podcastmachine allows you to upload your audio files, create a "player" and embed that player onto your website. Podcastmachine.com makes it easy for you to get your audio out there to your students. In the past, I have created podcasts of stories we are reading, articles we are reading, audio study guides, explanations, etc. I post my "podcast player" on my website so my students can easily access the podcasts. I know many students like listening to the podcasts as they read through the stories from Ancient Quest. It helps all students understand better. Podcastmachine is free but it does have a data usage limit per month. (This goes away with paid versions).  It's good for students to read, but it is also good for students to listen! Especially the struggling readers. Podcastmachine gives you the opportunity to help those struggling readers get through the readings. Go to podcastmachine.com, create an account, and start recording!

Tagxedo: A Word Cloud better than Wordle

We are probably all familiar with word clouds. They can help a student understand a theme, help a student show understanding, or provide an image describing a topic. A popular word cloud is wordle. This world cloud option allows the user to customize the wordle but only provides one option for presentation: a group of words. So perhaps you want more flexibility and creativity in your world cloud? Well, the answer is Tagxedo. This word cloud option allows the user to customize the words to be used, either by typing them in or entering a URL. The cool part about tagxedo is that the user has a ton of options on how the Tagxedo looks. Tagxedo is a useful, visually pleasing creation tool.
Examples of Use: I have attached an interactive tagxedo to this post from my Stone Age unit, you could provide the student with a link (example here), or post it as an static image only.
Application to Education: student can create a tagxedo about a certain topic and have the overall shape of the word cloud be a central theme. Teachers can create a tagxedo and post it on their website to convey an idea/topic to their students.